Chapter 17

“Well, don’t bother me,” he says. “I’m here to work, not to talk. That’s why I come here alone.”

“But you asked me—”

“I need this lane and I need this stuff here,” he says. “Don’t touch any of it.” Then he goes back to his exercises.

Seething, I grab a kickboard from the stack and make my way over to the pool ladder at the deep end. It seems like this pool only has deep ends, no shallow ends. I start to go down one rung at a time, very carefully. The water is heated, but it still feels icy to me. I’ve already got goose bumps. This is so not worth it.

And my feet are still planted on the ladder.

If I were to take the swim test, I’d have to dive in and get from one end of the pool to the other two times without stopping to rest. Plus tread water for three minutes, plus float for one minute. I can’t do any of those things.

I mean, I know how to doggy-paddle. I don’t know the official strokes or whatever, but who cares? I’m not going to drown in my own pool. I don’t like putting my head u